Animation tends to be culturally overlooked in America. Sure, kids flock to see popular movies, but as an art, animation is looked down upon here compared to other countries in Europe and Asia. Not only have we allowed Hand Drawn Animation to die out in theaters, but works different in tone or style from the most mainstream studio films tend to be forgotten and aren’t funded due to being seen as risky (despite usually costing less than the average 3D animated film). One of these mediums is stop motion animation as traditionally, we don’t get many films of this type in general. Sure, you have Aardman and Laika occasionally making a film every few years out of passion for the craft, but they either don’t do well in theaters or are sent to streaming. However, regarding stop motion, there is one figure I want to discuss that is lesser known in the public eye but is quite important and interesting: Will Vinton.
Mostly known for the California Raisins commercials in the 80s and the first commercials featuring the iconic versions of the M&M characters, Vinton and his animation studio were prominent in many ways from the 70s up till the early 2000s. Whether it be commercials, shorts, or TV specials, Vinton’s works dabbled in Claymation, different types of regular stop motion, and even jumping on board with the computer animation boom at the start of the 90s. However, he lost control of his studio in the mid-2000s to Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike who was a major investor for Vinton at the time, and it was changed over time to Laika. While the studio still exists in some form, Vinton’s name is sort of forgotten in the general public’s eye. Heck, I wasn’t familiar with him until he died in 2018 which got me curious to dig into his work. Even so, I’ve become quite a fan of the type of Claymation he developed.
Being credited for coming up with the term Claymation in the first place, Vinton’s style focused more on exaggerated designs with an emphasis on emulating 2-D squash and stretch. Projects at his studio also experimented with how clay could be used such as with clay painting, pioneered by Joan C. Gratz, and making projects that had all of their elements be made of clay including the effects and environments. The many projects he and his studio worked on not only put Claymation more into the public eye but pushed forward a different sort of artistic approach compared to other studios.
While Vinton has an impressive catalog of work, his most interesting project was the only film he ever got to direct: The Adventures of Mark Twain. The film follows the characters of Twain’s most famous books, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Becky Thatcher, who go on an adventure with a fictional version of Mark Twain. Twain is piloting an airship to meet up with Hailey’s Comet believing that he is destined to meet it at the end of his life as he was born when it last appeared. This plot detail mirrors Twain’s statements in real life and how Hailey’s Comet appeared during his birth and death which is pointed out in a text crawl at the start of the movie. During this journey, many of Twain’s shorter stories are told in the universe and tie into his viewpoint of the world and general mindset of things.
This film is one of many that, in recent years, had been mostly obscured outside of one aspect. That aspect is The Mysterious Stranger sequence that was usually used in “scariest scenes in kids’ movies” videos and articles for as long as I can remember. The sequence is one of the many vignettes in the film and reflects some of Twain’s real-world cynicism toward the state of the world. However, while that sequence stays in the mind for how unsettling it is, it is also unrepresentative of the film itself. In general, I found the film very compelling both in its artistry and its usage of Twain’s style of writing and his body of work.
Like many of Vinton’s works, the entire film is completely made out of clay. It’s honestly as impressive as any big-budgeted film simply because of the fact that it’s clear Will and his crew worked in unique ways to portray anything they wanted through clay alone. One of the most impressive sequences is right at the start where a book opens and water rushes out of it. The water transforms an entire library room into the Mississippi River to start the story and to meet Tom and Huck with all of it being done in clay. The effects and environments made out of clay make for a style of animation that is very distinct and engaging in its design and general execution. The design of the characters is also very memorable with a mix of slightly realistic human looks and exaggerated cartoony designs. On top of that, the writing has a distinctive wit to it. While I won’t say the characters in the film are deep, they have visible personalities that compensate for that lack of depth and are buoyed by how natural and endearing their dialogue and interactions are. The dialogue itself feels old-fashioned but extremely charming in a way that resembles Twain’s writing through the slight but natural humor presented.
The film is more episodic than anything with its focus on showing some of Twain’s smaller works through vignettes that range from comedic to thoughtful in what they present and mostly connect to Twain’s real-world perspectives and the fictional journey. I already mentioned The Mysterious Stranger, but the other stories do a good job showing Twain’s style of writing and even connect to the fictional story in small ways. The story of The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is used as an introduction to Twain’s sense of humor and ties into a plot beat in the film later on. The Story of Adam and Eve does the same thing while also connecting to Twain’s secondary motive for his journey. And finally, Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven relays his perspective of the afterlife (which is fitting since it was the last thing he published in real life). While these stories aren’t 1-1 with the original works and diverge in many ways, I still felt they were interesting and, even as someone who isn’t fully familiar with Twain’s works, felt insightful and very much made by people who care for the man’s writing.
What engaged me the most, however, was that this film felt less like something made for general audiences, and more like something to introduce audiences to Twain and his work. The film is very un-traditional in every way and I feel that this is one of its biggest strengths. Not only did I feel like I was learning a lot about Twain, but I grew to appreciate that this film was taking its own approach in terms of storytelling and animation. I feel that the point of the film isn’t to experience a gripping story or to focus distantly on the characters, but to experience something that exudes Mark Twain’s work in general. It’s not bound by studio notes or trends, but by artistic expression, and while that may come across as a bit pretentious, I feel that films driven by that sentiment of wanting to present something different and unique for the sake of it is necessary.
There’s a part of me that’s sad there aren’t more films that skew towards younger audiences like this. Not just in the sense that Vinton never got to make more films, but that the type of film this aspires to be isn’t attempted often anymore. Films like The Dark Crystal, The Secret of Nimh, and Return to Oz all focused on presenting more detailed and layered worlds or focused on distinctive ideas while being a bit darker and more adult than normal kid’s films. There was a sense of sophistication with them and not in a fancy or snobbish way or even adult violently or crudely, but more in that they trusted younger audiences with material that they would need to think about and challenged them as viewers in some way. I have no problem with kids’ media that simply wants to entertain, but I feel that aside from the occasional Pixar film or Spiderverse, kids’ movies today feel less crafted with care in a way. Even slapstick like the Looney Tunes or SpongeBob has a sense of creative drive and depth in their execution that stuff like Minions lacks. Not only that, but I feel that kids occasionally need films that give them something new. I’m not saying that every kid’s film needs to be deep or give a message, but that the current environment lacks films like this one and I feel that kids need variety in the types of movies that watch.
In a way, these opinions reflect exactly why this film and Vinton’s work in general appeal to me. Little about it feels mandated or altered to fit the market but rather represents distinctive ambition and a desire to present something unique through the artistic abilities one has. How Vinton managed to be one of the first animators to partially uplift a new style mostly though his passion for the craft is admirable. Innovative creation through passion is something I feel is missing often nowadays in films and TV and I do tend to appreciate it when it comes around. Regardless, I feel that this film and Vinton’s work in general are fantastic and have consistently fascinated me both in their artistry and how untraditional they are. Sometimes, going off the normal path is a good thing and might lead to new ideas that capture something amazing.
